Democrats view Georgia congressional map battle as crucial to election hopes

Thirty years ago, Democratic strategists and organizers invested considerable time and energy in Florida while viewing Georgia as an uphill climb in statewide races. Now, it's the opposite.

Many Democrats, according to reports, have grown pessimistic about Florida following the 2022 midterms but view Georgia as a must-win swing state for President Joe Biden in 2024. Swing voters showed a willingness to split their tickets in the Peach State last year, reelecting Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger — both conservative Republicans — as well as liberal Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Georgia).

An ongoing battle over the state's electoral maps, the Georgia Recorder's Jill Nolin stresses in an article published on September 11, shows how crucial Black voters are to the Democratic Party in that state.

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"The state's attorneys have argued that recent elections undermine claims that Black voters are not able to elect candidates of their choice, pointing to the wins of U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath in the Atlanta suburbs and President Joe Biden and U.S. Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in statewide races," Nolin explains. "The outcome of the case could prove consequential heading into next year's election, since Black Georgians tend to vote for Democratic candidates at high rates. Republicans currently hold a fragile majority in the U.S. House, and any Democratic gains in the (Georgia) State Legislature would add to tightening margins under the Gold Dome."

In 2022, Republicans flipped the U.S. House of Representatives, but only by single digits. Democrats are hoping to recapture the House next year and see Georgia as crucial to that effort.

"The U.S. Supreme Court recently stood behind Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act in a surprise ruling this summer that rejected Alabama's congressional map," Nolin observes. "A redrawn plan that still did not include a new opportunity district for Black Alabamians was blasted last week by a three-judge panel, which ordered a third-party special master to do the job."

Nolin continues, "In Georgia, the cases at trial argue a new majority Black congressional district can be drawn in Metro Atlanta and that multiple new Black majority districts can be carved out in the state House and Senate maps."

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The Georgia Recorder's full report is available at this link.